The recession we are now in will be no different than any other past economic downturn the nation has experienced in the past in at least one respect: businesses with broad name recognition will either fail or be bought out. Either way, a brand name will disappear and slowly fade from the consciences and memories of citizens. Some of the names in this report have had a long history, but competition and stagnation are pushing them towards extinction. Ford and Sears have been sinking fast over the last two decades so their deaths seem all but inevitable. Qwest is a tiny telecom, relatively speaking, that has been seriously mismanaged for years and is well behind its competition in keeping up with the latest and more demanded technological services and products. Banks always get bought up and made part of mergers no matter what the economy is. WAMU and Citigroup likely are headed for that future before long. A big merger in telecoms may be on the horizon with perhaps a Comcast getting purchased by AT&T or a Sprint bought by a Comcast. Can the end of Wendy's be near ? Perhaps, as there is a glut of fast food competition in an environment of shrinking revenues and profits for the sector. Expect even additional consolidations, buyouts, and bankruptcies of a number of corporations as the current policy thrust of Free Market Absolutist Capitalism compels the consolidation of most business sectors into oligopolies of a minimum of two to three dominant firms to around six or seven dominant firms that control better than 3/4 of the market and provide goods and services in their sector to over 3/4 of the population and demographics. With this occurrence, the consumer is limited in choices and often the reduced competition results in higher prices as the corporations consolidating need to increase profits in order to pay for the financial costs of the acquisitions and mergers. And the consumer and citizen is the usual ultimate loser.http://www.247wallst.com/2008/03/big-mergers-f-1.html
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